Optimization of air protection expenditures on municipal scale

The application of air protection methods and technologies involves considerable investment and maintenance costs. Thus, to reduce overall expenditures an economic calculation of air pollution control, should be applied. This problem is connected in special way with areas of great population of inhabitants with spatially uneven density, where energetic, technological and domestic emission sources are located. Such calculations are preferred to be used on the town and municipal scale. The maximized ecological effect might be calculated from aggregate mean annual ambient concentration and population density distribution. Aggregate concentration reflects concentrations of all emitted pollutants, being taken into account. As an example, the optimization for Bytom - an industrial town regarded as one of the most heavily polluted in Europe - was carried out due to its energy production facilities. Alternative fuels were taken into consideration. It demonstrates that expenditures of a relatively small percentage of overall energy production costs can make a substantial improvement to the ambient air condition.